This invention relates to inbound telephone call processing and, in particular, to a method for automatically processing telephone calls to an information provider, such as computer technical support, to eliminate long hold times and to automatically provide certain information to the information provider prior to direct telephone contact between the caller and the provider.
Information, such as technical support for both computer hardware and software, is provided by telephone calls made by the caller to a technical support or communication center. There are usually long delays in which the caller is held on telephone queue awaiting the availability of a person, such as a computer technician. Depending on the company and its technical support system, this telephone time may be charged by the telephone company either to the support service or the caller. The end result is a substantial charge to one or the other. Since the information provider would not wish the caller be given a busy signal, the information provider must have a large number of lines to be held open while the caller awaits contact with the appropriate person. In addition, in the area of computer technical support, when a technician is finally reached, he must spend a substantial period of time obtaining information about the caller's hardware and software, as well as obtaining diagnostic information which would aid the technician in evaluating the problem.
Typically, hold times for technicians in the computer area are, at a minimum, on the order of ten to fifteen minutes and sometimes extend far beyond, especially when a new product becomes available to consumers. Busy signals and long hold times effect the caller's attitude to the service provider with a resulting negative impact on future purchases by the caller. Computer magazines frequently present articles concerning customer service which prominently feature the time the caller is kept on hold and recommend purchase based on customer service.
Some attempts have been made to eliminate this problem by use of a system which automatically obtains the caller's telephone number, disconnects and returns the call at the time when the caller would have been serviced had the caller stayed on hold, such as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,884, issued May 6, 1997 to Williams et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,782, issued Feb. 9, 1993 to Srinivasan; U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,761, issued Oct. 13, 1992 to Hammond; U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,236, issued Jan. 19, 1993 to LaVallee et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,786, issued Feb. 9, 1993 to Zwick. These systems shift the burden of the payment for the return call to the technical service department since it initiates the return call where the majority of the telephone time will be spent in aiding the caller. Since the trend is for the callers to pay for the telephone time for customer service, if not the service itself, such runs contrary to current practice. Callers also have a distrust of call-backs, in most cases, because the callers do not believe that they will, in fact, have preference over the people who have held on to the phone line and because callers are not aware of their own availability at the time the call back is actually made.